Distributed teams that

Tips and Tricks to build energy, enthusiasm and collaboration.

POP

Offsite

JapanOffshore India China Argentina

Is the pendulum swinging away from offshoring?

No!In its latest study, Forrester predicts that by the end of next year, U.S. firms will offshore more than 800,000 service jobs, 40 percent more than the firm estimated previously. Forrester's overall estimate remains the same: The firm predicts that about 3.3 million jobs will go overseas by 2015.

A recent study commissioned by collaboration software company Wrike reveals that: 83 percent of respondents reported working from home for at least part of their workday in 2012; 66 percent believed that their office could be completely virtual within the next five years.

American workers who spend most of their time working from home rose from 3.6% of the workforce in 2005 to 4.3% in 2010.

The bureau also noted that home-based work in computer, engineering and science is rising particularly fast, growing almost 70% between 2000 and 2010.(Source: US Census Bureau)

Telecommuting

•Rural Sourcing

•Crowdsourcing - free agency, in-the-wild testing (Turk, uTest)

Trends

Case:New Mobile app must be released in 12 weeks.

Team consists of:

1 PM, on shore but full time work from home. 5 QA Analysts based out of corporate headquarters, but most work two days per week from home 5 Offshore Developers 5 Offshore QA Analysts

To enable better collaboration, QA analysts work more closely with development during functional testing, leaving the onshore Analysts to do regression.

Challenges?

Advantages?

Risks?t

Your situation

OffsiteContractOffshoreRemote office

Consider the role you play on your local team.What do you offer?

What are your limitations?

Your

Challenges

Process (Agile or Waterfall? CMM?)Technical – what equipment/licenses do you need? Day to day events. Build process and frequencyMaintenance periods

•Build process and frequencyMaintenance periods

PlanningConsider your team's processes and environment. Identify roadblocks early.What are the limitations?

What are the essentials?

Examples:

How do we do it?

Plan

Train

Measure

Correct

Repeat

PlanningWhat will this new team or individual be doing?

How independently can they work, or is there overlap with onsite teams?

ManageForming the team

Who is responsible for hiring?

Know what you’re looking for and communicate that

Don’t look for what you already have

Get involved in the interview process

ManageTrainingConsider how to replicate onsite training availability.Knowledge base (such as a Wiki) – create it and direct the team to it.

Consider how to replicate onsite training availability.Knowledge base (such as a Wiki) – create it and direct the team to it.

ManageTraining

Too many organizations “Plug and Play.” “How to do it” vs. “How to get it done.”How do we give offsite teams the “metadata” about how we work that they need?

Too many organizations “Plug and Play.” “How to do it” vs. “How to get it done.”How do we give offsite teams the “metadata” about how we work that they need?

Volunteers, please.

Project spec

Training means:Product and Process Knowledge

People Knowledge

Cultural knowledge (yes, geographic, but…)

Tuckman’s model

Forming

PerformingStorming

Norming

ManageEffective Meetings

Logistics & Technology – What are you using and is it effective?

Who is responsible for conducting?

How are the meetings organized?

Verify understanding.

Effective questions

When will you be done?

How many defects have you found?

What time will you be in the office tomorrow to report on status again?

vs.

What is your assessment of the project?

What risks do we need to be aware of?What other

information or assistance do you need?

ManageEffective InteractionIdioms

Age

Background

Geography

Channels

It's so easy to be misunderstood! Does your communication pass the test?

To Be or Not To Be:Korean -  “Lives dies!”

Dutch – “To be be or!”

Japanese – “Because of a certain or because it is not! ”

Chinese – “The survival destroys!”

Greek  – “In order to it is or in order to it is not!”

Hungarian – “Be, or not be!”

Turkish – “had straight exist or even if not had straight exist!”

ManageMeasureHow is success defined?

•Cost savings?

•Productivity?

•24/7 development cycleHow is it measuredIs it tracked?

• How is it measuredIs it tracked?

• How is it measuredIs it tracked?

How is it measured?

Is it tracked?

How is your performance evaluated?

ManageFeedback

Who is responsible for feedback?

How are expectations communicated?

One-on-ones with offsite team members.

How is performance rewarded/corrected?

What is the career path?What motivates each individual?

Report success

...and failureStatus – what should people be aware of, not just what is being asked for. Time to completion doesn't tell the whole story.

Efficiencies and Inefficiencies

Trends, trends, trends...

Mobile initiativesQA progress

Ship date 03.01.2013

Defects Found in Requirements (onshore)Defects Found in Functional Testing (offshore)Defects Found in Regression Testing (onshore)Defects reported in ProductionTotal Defects Found

Defects found by area

Defects Found in Requirements (onshore)Defects Found in Functional Testing (offshore)Defects Found in Regression Testing (onshore)Defects reported in Production

What doesn’t workWind up and go

Assuming the offsite folks can do what your onsite folks can do

Trusting people outside of your organization to know what you are looking for

Expecting instant ramp-up

Not providing feedback

What doesn’t work

Assuming the onsite folks won’t be affected

Asking the wrong question

Assuming motivation

Ignore success

Ignore failure

What works

Clearly defined responsibilities

Clearly defined ideal candidates

Clearly defined measures of success

Establish agreed-upon procedures and tweak if necessary

Understand that training is ongoing (just like your onsite folks)

Anticipate and deal with technical limitations

What worksChange the source

Evaluate task size - Start with small goals and work up

Consideration of environment

Establishing points of contact

Establishing consistent procedures

Inclusion

Learn from failure, celebrate success

Any of this sound familiar?

Questions?